System and method for group gift exchanges

Abstract

Systems and methods for organizing and conducting group gift exchanges among two or more participants generally enable multiple participants to order an item and to receive an item in return. Items may be allocated on a random basis, or on some other basis, such as the cost or other characteristic of the respective items, or the known preferences or interests of the respective participants. The systems and methods may take the form of free-standing applications or may be incorporated into existing merchant web sites or social networks, and may include components or processes for receiving orders of items and for allocating items among each of the participants.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Gift exchanges are common social activities that currently take place around a holiday season or in connection with certain events. Gift exchanges may be simple or complex in nature, and typically occur among a designated group of people, each of whom buys a gift for another person in the group and also receives a gift in return. For example, in a gift exchange among members of a family, each family member may be assigned to purchase a gift for another family member, such as by drawing names out of a hat, and may also receive a gift from another family member in return. Some more complex gift exchanges include a “Secret Santa,” in which each participant purchases a gift for a randomly assigned recipient but the recipient is not told the identity of the participant who purchased the gift, or a “Yankee Swap,” in which each member of a group purchases a single gift, and the members of the group choose between opening an unopened gift or taking an opened...

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